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CTA Construction Work Temporarily Closing Five Brown Line Stations This Weekend

November 29, 2006

11/29/06

Armitage, Sedgwick and Chicago Stations Will Reopen Monday

Montrose, Addison Will Remain Closed for 12 Months

Chicago Transit Authority officials gathered today at the Armitage station on the Brown Line to remind customers that five Brown Line stations will temporarily close this weekend for construction work related to the Brown Line capacity expansion project. The Armitage, Sedgwick and Chicago Brown Line stations will temporarily close from 10 p.m. on Friday, December 1 through Sunday, December 3. The Montrose and Addison Brown Line stations will close on Saturday, December 2 for 12 months for construction.

From Friday night through Sunday, Brown Line trains will operate only between Kedzie and Fullerton and will not serve the Loop. Normal Brown Line service will resume at 5 a.m. on Monday, December 4 at Armitage, Sedgwick and Chicago stations, but will not resume at Montrose and Addison.

CTA is encouraging southbound Brown Line customers to make the free transfer to the Red Line at Fullerton to complete their trips into the Loop.

CTA will provide a bus shuttle as a substitute for Brown Line rail service between the Fullerton and Clark/Lake stations. The bus shuttle will make stops near the Armitage, Sedgwick, Chicago, Merchandise Mart and Clark/Lake stations.

Existing CTA bus routes are also convenient options for customers throughout the weekend.

Customers in close proximity to the Chicago station are also served by the following five CTA bus routes: #22 Clark, #36 Broadway, #65 Grand, #66 Chicago and #70 Division.

Customers close to the Sedgwick station are served by seven CTA bus routes: #8 Halsted, #11 Lincoln, #22 Clark, #36 Broadway, #70 Division, #72 North and #73 Armitage. Customers near the Armitage station are served by five CTA bus routes: #8 Halsted, #11 Lincoln, #72 North, #73 Armitage and #74 Fullerton.

The weekend closure allows crews to perform construction that can only be done when trains are not running. At Armitage, crews will demolish a building adjacent to the station platform to allow for the platform expansion at this location while crews at Sedgwick and Chicago will perform signal and platform work.

CTA officials also reminded customers that the Brown Line Montrose and Addison stations will temporarily close for renovation beginning Saturday, December 2.

Both stations are closing for 12 months while construction crews upgrade and extend platforms, and rebuild the stationhouses. The three stations adjacent to Montrose and Addison ? Paulina, Irving Park and Damen ? will remain open so CTA recommends that customers use them as alternates to access Brown Line service.

When Brown Line station reconstruction is complete, customers will have modern stationhouses and platforms with new elevators and accessible turnstiles that will allow customers with disabilities to use Brown Line stations. In addition, wider stairways, additional turnstiles and improved entrances and exits will allow for a better flow of customer traffic.

When the entire project is completed in 2009, longer platforms will allow eight-car trains to berth at each station on the Brown Line which will allow many more customers to board. Currently the platforms along the Brown Line are only able to accommodate six-car trains. Other improvements include security cameras, brighter lighting, tactile edging on the platforms and upgraded public address systems.

"Construction is nearly complete at the Kedzie and Rockwell stations and under way at 10 of the 18 stations included in the project. We continue to move closer to the project's finish line," said CTA President Frank Kruesi. ?The end result will be improved facilities and service for Brown Line customers."

Operating between downtown and the Northwest Side, the Brown Line was originally constructed in two phases, opening for service in 1900 and 1907. The line is the third busiest of CTA's rail lines, serving more than 66,000 customers each weekday, with 19 stations between Kimball on the north and the downtown Chicago Loop.